


Operation Weasel

by oceanofdarkness



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Rumbelle Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-07 20:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1123868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceanofdarkness/pseuds/oceanofdarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry goes to Grampy Rumple for help with a family problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Weasel

**Author's Note:**

> Set post-Neverland but presumes an AU where Pan is trapped in Pandora’s box.

“How many times is it now, Rumple?”

They are in the back of his shop, and he has to make himself think for a minute before he can answer Belle’s question. 

“Four, I think, Sweetheart… maybe five.”

She smiles and leans into him, curling her fingers into his hair and pulling him close for a kiss. Her blue eyes twinkle as she whispers against his lips. “Next time, I’m bringing dessert.”

He chuckles, but when he speaks his tone is serious. “Are you sure you should?” he whispers gravely. “Might jinx it.”

She considers for a moment. “Do the brave thing,” she announces with a decisive nod. ”We’ve gotten through almost half a dozen meals without any interruptions. We might as well be optimistic.”

“Not in my nature,” he mumbles, and she giggles as he captures her bottom lip between his own… just as the bell over the shop door rings. “See…” he gives her a pointed look and brushes the tip of his nose across hers, “… even talk of dessert has people barging in.” His lovely Belle rolls her eyes at him and gives his hair a gentle tug as their visitor calls out from the front of the shop.

“Grandpa?”

Rumplestiltskin smiles in spite of himself. “Back here, Henry.” He turns from his love to greet the boy but keeps an arm wrapped loosely about her waist.

“Oh, hi Belle,” Henry says brightly when he sees her. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”

“Not yet,” Rumple assures him, with his most impish grin. Belle moves away from him, a distinct scarlet flush creeping over her cheeks. “Well, there  _was_ talk of dessert,” he offers innocently.

She rolls her eyes at him again and turns her attention to the boy. “So, Henry, what are you up to?”

“Well…” Rumplestiltskin’s grandson looks away from her, suddenly very interested in the end of his scarf. “I sort of came by because I need your help with something.” He glances up at Rumple with a sheepish grin. “I came to recruit you for Operation Weasel.”

“Operation Weasel?” Bellle asks, clearly confused.

“What’s Regina done now?” Rumplestiltskin asks at the same time.

“Nothing like that,” Henry assures him, “Mom’s fine.” Then to Belle, “It’s like Operation Cobra, but this time our target is Hook.”

“I’m not sure what Operation Cobra is,” Belle begins with a serious tone, “but I wish you’d stay away from that pirate, Henry. I know your mom has been spending time with him lately, but I don’t trust him.”

“That’s just it,” Henry says, “He’s not supposed to be spending time with my mom. He told my dad he wouldn’t, but he keeps following her when she goes out to walk on the beach and he just happens to wander into Granny’s when he knows she’s there and he makes up these errands that take him over to the sheriff’s station saying he’s trying to be useful and help out with the town…” He trails off and looks to Rumplestiltskin. “There’s only so much I can do on my own, Grandpa.”

“And what exactly have you been doing  _on your own_?” Rumple asks in a voice that holds both concern and a hint of grudging approval.

“Well,” the boy begins, “nothing yet really.” He shrugs. “I wasn’t sure where to start.”

“Henry,” Belle asks, “are you asking us to help you keep Hook away from Emma?”

The boy nods and looks back to his grandfather. “Will you?”

Rumple would like nothing more than to turn the damnable pirate into… well, he can’t think of anything worse than a snail but he would gladly devote no small amount of his time to  the task. Hook stole Bae’s mother away centuries ago, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to put his boy through. No, now he’s set his sights on the woman Bae…  _Neal_  loves, and Rumplestiltskin itches to make the blaguard pay. He understands that this is not what Henry is asking of him, understands even more that neither Belle nor Bae would allow what he wishes to do… so he forces himself to calm the rage he feels building at this assault on his son’s happiness and tries to focus instead on the request Henry has made of him.

“Does your father know you’re here, Henry? Does he know what you’re trying to do?”

“No.” Henry looks down, then meets his eyes once again. “My dad is determined to be all honorable and let mom figure things out on her own, which would be ok if he wasn’t the only one playing fair… but he is the only one and that makes it not fair at all.” A pleading note has crept into his voice and he looks to Rumplestiltskin with pleading eyes as well. “You always used to be able to get around whatever scheme my other mom had going, can’t you help with this too?”

Rumple looks from the boy to Belle, gesturing toward his grandson. He is about to try to convince her that something needs to be done about the boy’s concerns when she moves to Henry and places a hand on his shoulder.

“Of course we’ll help you,” she assures him, and Rumplestiltskin knows that he is gaping at her but cannot manage to do a thing about it. “We  _will_  have to talk to your father, though.”

“Belle, I don’t…” he begins, but she interrupts him.

“I’ve seen what happens when people try to interfere with love.” Her eyes are blazing, but they soften slightly when she looks back to Henry. “Do you know where your dad is right now?”

“Um, I think he’s still at Granny’s?”

She nods and turns the boy around to face the door, pushing him in front of her as she moves towards it. Rumplestiltskin looks after them, still gaping until she turns back to him with an expectant look. 

“Well, aren’t you coming?”

He trails Henry and his determined love into Granny’s a few minutes later to see Bae…  _Neal_ , he reminds himself, sitting alone in a booth. Belle steers Henry over. She encourages the boy to sit next to his father while she slides in opposite and raises an expectant eyebrow at Rumplestiltskin until he settles next to her.

Neal looks between the three of them and finally settles on Belle.

“Um, hey?”

“Hey.” Belle smiles, and Rumple can see that his son is as taken with the petite brunette as his grandson seems to be… and really, who could resist that radiant smile and the gentle kindness in his true love’s beautiful blue eyes? She looks pointedly at Henry and offers him an encouraging nod, but the boy does not respond as she wishes. He simply smiles up at his father and mutters, “Hey.” then nods into the increasingly awkward silence as his love rolls her eyes and heaves a weary sigh.

“Anybody wanna save some time and tell me what I’m missing here?” Neal asks, fixing his gaze on Rumple who shrugs and glances at Belle before he speaks.

“It seems we’ve been summoned to a family meeting to discuss Operation Weasel.”

“Operation… what?”

“Henry came to the shop to ask for our help,” Belle supplies. “He wants to make a plan to keep a certain pirate away from Emma.”

Neal sighs and drops his head before fixing Henry with a pained stare. “We’ve talked about this, Buddy…” he begins. “If your mom wants to…”

“He’s right,” Belle interrupts. Neal’s head snaps up to meet her stubborn gaze, and Rumple can’t help but take a moment to admire the way her eyes flash with the challenge in them. His son doesn’t stand a chance. “You love her.” It is not a question.

“Yeah,” he admits. “I do. I love her enough to leave her alone if I’m not what she wants.”

“And how do you know you’re not what she wants?” 

Neal looks down again, runs a hand through his hair. “Seems pretty clear who she wants to spend time with,” he mutters.

“Have you even tried?” Belle asks, obviously exasperated.

“Look, I waited for her. I told her if she didn’t show up I’d leave her alone.”

Belle takes a deep breath and glares at Rumple as though this were somehow his fault, then turns her steely gaze back to his son.

“What were you thinking?” she demands.

His hands go up in a gesture of surrender… or defense, Rumplestiltskin isn’t entirely sure at this point. “I was thinking that I hurt her, ok? I can’t blame her for not wanting to go through that again.”

“So you just give up and leave her vulnerable to a manipulative scoundrel because she didn’t come running back to you on the first try?”

“I… no… I mean, I don’t know…” He looks to Rumple, obviously hoping for some clue as to how to escape this inquisition, and gestures feebly to the plate in front of him with the remnants of what looks to be lasagne. “I was just trying to have lunch.”

“Not bloody likely in this town,” Rumple mutters under his breath. “Son, Belle is right. If you love Miss Swan you can’t give up on her.” He looks over at his love with a tiny smile then meets his son’s eyes. “When you find something worth fighting for, you  _never_  give up.”

“I hurt her, Papa.” It comes out so quiet. “I left her.”

Rumplestiltskin reaches across the table to cover his son’s hand with one of his own.

“Then find a way to make it right, Bae.”

“Dad, we’re just asking you to try,” Henry adds. “Hook won’t stop trying and you won’t start. What kind of message does that send?”

“Ba… Neal,” Belle’s voice is gentler this time, coaxing rather than demanding, “the pirate is easier for Emma because he’s not important. He’s… a distraction. If she’s afraid to trust you again, it’s because you still have her heart. You need to talk to her.”

He stares at her for a long moment then looks down at his hands and shakes his head. “Even if that’s true, she’s never alone.”

“That’s where Operation Weasel comes in,” Henry announces. “Grandpa and me can get Hook out of the way so you can have some time with mom, now that you know about it that is.”

“And what was Operation Weasel about when I didn’t know about it, huh?

Henry shrugs. “Just keeping Hook away from mom until you decided to fight for her.”

“Henry…” Neal warns. “I’m not sure she’ll even be willing to talk about giving this a try.”

“Leave that to me.” Belle chimes in, and Rumple wouldn’t bet against her in anything she puts her mind to.

“Good,” Henry proclaims. “It’s settled. Now if Grandpa can just get Hook out of the way…”

“No magic!” Neal interrupts, and he looks for all the world like the stubborn boy that Rumple made his deal with so very long ago. 

“Well…” Belle suggests, “nothing dark anyway.” Rumplestiltskin looks at her as though he’s never seen her before, and she laughs at the confusion she sees in his face. “I’m sure there are ways to slow a man down without turning him into a snail,” she says with an indulgent grin. “Surely a few well-placed obstacles that may or may not have occurred completely on their own wouldn’t be  _so_  bad.” She looks at Neal with an expression his father has never been able to resist.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the  _good_  influence here?” he asks.

“Fine,” Belle pouts. “No magic… unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Neal eyes her suspiciously. “And who decides if it’s necessary?”

“I do,” she announces. “Take it or leave it.” 

Neal glances at his father and shrugs before taking Belle’s outstretched hand. “I guess the deal is struck.” He shakes his head as though he doesn’t quite understand how they got here. 

“No point wasting time then,” Henry says. “We should get started right now.”

“Now?” Neal squeaks. 

“Yep.” He nods in the direction of the door that the pirate has just come through. “Mom was planning to go out to the beach this afternoon. If you leave now you might be able to catch her.” He slides out of the booth, looks at Rumplestiltskin. “I think I’ve got this, but if I’m wrong…”

“I’ll see to it there are no interruptions,” Rumple assures him.

The boy nods and goes over to the pirate who is now seated at the counter, sliding onto the stool next to him. “So…” he begins innocently enough, obviously settling in for a long chat, “I guess you like my mom…”

 

 


End file.
